My USC Housing Freshman Year: New/North Dorms

Freshman year, I would definitely describe my housing situation as the complete dorm experience. My dorm room had both girls and guys, it had communal bathrooms, and every room was a two-person room. Though many people feel a bit nervous or apprehensive about dorm-style living, I can honestly say that I would not have wanted my housing experience to be any other way!

I lived in New/North freshman year. New and North are technically two different dorms on the USC Housing application, but they are connected. New describes one end of the dorm building, North describes the other end. I honestly can’t even remember if I was in New or North, but there are no significant differences between them so that doesn’t matter! New/North is right next to the EVK dining hall and Trojan Grounds/Starbucks (the only on-campus coffee shop that is open 24/7), which is extremely convenient!

New/North 4th Floor Ladies at the EVK Dining Hall.

I chose New and North as my top options for housing when I applied, and I was randomly paired with a roommate. Most of the girls in my hall were also randomly assigned roommates by USC Housing, which I thought was really cool because I didn’t encounter even one bad roommate situation my freshman year! I think that USC does a really good job of pairing people together based on the preferences and personality survey that they give out. I was very nervous about the whole roommate situation, but my roommate and I ended up becoming best friends and still live together today!

Not only did I get along great with my roommate, I also ended up becoming really close with almost all of the girls on my floor. One of the greatest parts of living in true dorm-style housing was that everyone kept their doors open. New/North was a very social environment, and that made it very easy for me to quickly settle into college life. Living in New/North was like living in a huge house with all of my closest friends, and it is definitely something that I miss!

Taking pictures in the dorm on Halloween!

I now live in an apartment off-campus called University Gateway. The open doors of the dorms are probably what I miss most. I love my apartment, especially because I now have a kitchen, but there isn’t the same sense of dorm community that there was freshman year. Luckily, my floor of New/North has remained close, and we have several reunions every semester.

My roommate and I hosted a luau themed New/North reunion last semester at our apartment!

Writing this blog and looking up these pictures from freshman year has brought back so many great memories! Time is flying by, and I can’t believe that I am only half a semester away from my senior year! I would not have traded my dorm experience for anything, but I can also say that I am glad to have my own place now. A year in the dorms was the perfect amount of time, and I think that I formed many of my closest friends in New/North that will stay with me even after college.